Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

Inspired by Robert Shumann's 200^th birthday celebration, Multiples is a two movement work influenced by the composer's two favourite personalities, the extrovert Florestan and introvert Eusebius. Movement 1: Jasmine Bush - extrovert in character - is inspired by the feelings of reflection as Schumann writes to his wife Clara asking her to remember their first kiss. The text is taken from the poem 'Jasminenstrauch' by Friedrich Rückert and is quoted in a letter sent from Robert to Clara dated March 15, 1840.

From Robert to Clara:

"How did you feel after the first kiss, Klärchen? I'll tell you how."

Green was the jasmine bush

When it fell asleep in the evening

When the sunlight hit it

With morning's breath

It woke up as white as snow

"What happened to me last night?"

See, that's what happens to trees

That dream in spring.

"When I hear that song I always remember our first kiss."

(Weissweller, 1994)

Schumann created multiple fictional personas to allow voices to speak against and for each other, invent and re-shape, but always communicating through and in him. Through this fictional multiplicity Schumann sought the truth in his vocation as a critic, whilst letting the same dialogical dynamics animate his music. However, it is widely believed that his integration of 'mobility of the self" foretold the disturbing personality disorder that would eventually consume the composer. Movement 2: Losing Grip - introvert in character - explores the last period of Schumann's life as he slowly descends into schizophrenia.

Work Details

Year: 2010

Instrumentation: Soprano, flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon, French horn, piano.

Duration: 11 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Contents note: I. Jasmine bush -- II. Losing grip.

Commission note: Commissioned by Alpha Crucis Ensemble.

First performance info from Contribute:

The first performance was given by the Alpha Crucis Ensemble on September 23,2011 at the Bangalow Music Festival, A&I Hall, Bangalow, NSW, Australia. The ensemble consisted of Roxy Kavanagh, John Connolly, Alicia Cush, Armin Terzer, Nick Evans, Sarah Ferguson, Brieley Cutting.